Chapter 61

Gunfire like thunder rang out, and the area was filled with screams.

“Form up!”

“Line up, keep your heads down, and evacuate!”

It was the knight order in charge of security on campus.

Cadets in armor appeared in droves.

They raised their shields, formed a formation, and evacuated the people.

“Ka, Karin! Let’s hurry too!”

Rupina spoke urgently as she ducked down.

“Ah, yes.”

But Karin kept looking around as if searching for someone.

‘……They really disappeared.’

Including the Princess, several guests at the table had vanished.

‘What’s going on?’

I had been watching Lapin slip away from the booth.

She seemed to be heading toward Villed, who had appeared out of nowhere……

But after the gunfire rang out, the two disappeared like the wind.

“……Lapin, Villed.”

Where on earth did they go?

Karin could only stare at the empty table.

Drip, drip.

“Verdi!”

The Princess cried out.

Verdi’s left arm had been torn apart, completely severed, drenched in crimson blood.

Even just grazing a bullet had crushed his arm into a fatal wound.

“Your Highness, are you all right?”

Verdi was drenched in cold sweat, but still maintained his usual expression.

The Princess shook her head and spoke.

“Verdi is more important than me……!”

“Hurry, stop the bleeding!”

Curio tore her uniform with her teeth and tightly wrapped Verdi’s arm.

“I’ll help too.”

Ren placed his hand over Verdi’s wound and closed his eyes.

Basic healing magic.

A green aura spread from Verdi’s wound.

It couldn’t regenerate the arm, but it seemed to stop the bleeding.

Perhaps regaining some composure, Verdi finally spoke.

“There was a long-range sniper. And……”

When Verdi’s eyes turned upward, Curio and the Princess followed his gaze.

“We’ve been trapped in a barrier.”

At some point, the blue sky had turned blood red.

Not only that, but the bustling crowd had completely vanished.

The only ones left here were the Princess’s group and……

“Wh-what is this?”

“The sky’s strange! Where did everyone go?”

A few guests who had been sitting at the tables near the Princess remained.

And then, the Princess turned her gaze to the other side.

“……Villed?”

A tall figure with dark blue hair.

Even under the crimson sky, his skin glowed pale white—it was unmistakably Villed.

He too was trapped in this barrier.

The Princess looked at him with a puzzled face.

The Astrid Empire’s “Victory Festival” was held nationwide on the same day.

The Yggdrasil Victory Festival was mostly attended by commoners and lower noble students.

The high nobles attended the Victory Festival held in the imperial capital.

‘Then why is Villed here?’

The Princess had stayed behind for the Yggdrasil festival, but Villed had no reason to.

Villed was from a high noble family.

‘Was he abandoned by his family and forced to be here?’

Even if he couldn’t attend the capital’s festival, why would he lower his pride to join Yggdrasil’s?

That blonde cadet, Lapin—said to be his friend—was also by his side.

‘Could it really just be coincidence that they’re here?’

Though she had doubts, first she had to grasp the situation.

Princess Arlhardt looked around once again.

‘Aside from the sky turning red and the number of people drastically decreasing, nothing else changed.’

The performance hall, booths, streets—all of it remained the same.

The place that had just been packed with people now stood empty.

That unnaturalness made her uneasy, sending chills down her spine.

She remembered what Luga had taught her about barrier formulas.

“……This is a virtual barrier space, created while maintaining all the surrounding objects and environmental information as they are.”

In other words, it was a virtual space copied directly from reality.

And that was what had been materialized as a barrier.

Princess Arlhardt added.

“I’ve heard it requires vast mana and can’t be built unless you’re an extremely skilled person.”

“If they’re that capable……”

Curio trailed off, and Verdi answered in her place.

“At the very least, someone at a professor’s level.”

“Indeed.”

When Verdi answered, Arlhardt nodded in agreement.

That was true.

She remembered Luga telling her that only professors of Yggdrasil could construct such a barrier.

“……Furthermore.”

When Verdi spoke again, Arlhardt’s shoulders trembled slightly.

“To prevent the mana within the barrier from running wild, someone inside must control it. Meaning……”

Verdi looked around at everyone present before speaking.

“There’s an accomplice among us.”

Arlhardt and Curio nodded at the same time.

Among those trapped inside this barrier, one person was the culprit.

“Wh-who fired the gun? We can’t just stay here!”

“We need to call a professor……!”

As the cadets panicked, Verdi rose from his seat.

“Silence!”

Verdi shouted loudly.

The cadets all turned their attention to him.

Verdi spoke in a voice just loud enough for Arlhardt to hear.

“Your Highness, I will reveal my identity for the sake of maintaining order.”

“……I permit it.”

When the Princess gave a small nod, Verdi spoke with force.

“I am Verdi of the Balrak family, commander of the Empire’s 14th Knight Order. Currently, I serve as the Princess’s escort.”

Verdi rolled up his right sleeve with his teeth, revealing the golden tattoo symbolizing the Imperial Guard.

At that, murmurs began to spread.

“……Balrak? The Balrak, greatest of the knight families?”

“The Princess’s escort……?”

When Verdi narrowed his eyes and silently observed, the murmurs quickly died down.

Meeting the eyes of every cadet present, he finally spoke.

“There is an accomplice here who attempted to assassinate Her Highness.”

Assassination.

Accomplice.

As the matter grew dire, the surrounding cadets fell silent and looked at each other.

Verdi raised his voice even more.

“Therefore, from this moment, everything shall fall under my command.”

***

To identify the culprit, it was decided to gather information through personal interviews with suspects.

Verdi sat at a booth, summoning the cadets one by one.

The first suspect, Polrn Haze.

“Breaking news! This is a scoop, but I can’t connect to the outside……! You can’t contact outside the barrier either, right?”

A second-year girl from the Newspaper Club.

Her glasses gleamed excessively.

Rather than fear at being trapped, she looked delighted at having a newsworthy scoop.

Her major was General Magic.

The second suspect, Duke Ren.

“I hope this situation is resolved soon.”

A first-year cadet, close to Princess Arlhardt.

The only notable point was…… his rapid growth and how quickly he became close enough to call the Princess by a nickname.

The third suspect, Helte Queens.

“I’m really not the culprit.”

A second-year boy pleading his innocence.

“I was just waiting for Miss Macgrim’s performance……. I just want to go home……”

Despite his muscular build, his face and voice seemed simple and honest.

His major was Combat Magic.

The fourth suspect, Vek Bijou Lala.

A second-year girl with unkempt long hair and dark circles, giving her a gloomy atmosphere.

Her major was Barrier Magic.

“Do you study barrier formulas?”

When Verdi asked, she confidently nodded.

“That’s true, but this barrier we’re trapped in has nothing to do with me.”

Though sweating coldly, she answered every question calmly.

The fifth suspect, Lapin.

A first-year cadet with yellow hair.

“……Hungry.”

Her voice was soft, almost like singing.

Whether she was unaware of the danger or just pretending to be innocent, it was unclear.

The sixth suspect, Din Curio.

“Sir Verdi, are you interrogating even me?”

When Curio asked, Verdi met her gaze.

“Didn’t Sir Luga say so? That the Empire is filled with enemies from within.”

“……By that logic, Sir Verdi is no different.”

“You have a point.”

Hearing that, Verdi nodded.

“But still, a descendant of a prestigious knight family like me must be more trustworthy than a girl from a band of thieves the Empire once wiped out.”

“……Are you insulting me?”

Curio’s eyes sharpened.

Verdi smirked faintly.

“A joke. It’s not that I suspect you—since you haven’t revealed your identity to the students, this is just a formal interview.”

“……”

“Don’t take it to heart. Just be careful next time.”

When Verdi said that, Curio stared at him for a moment, then reluctantly rose from her seat.

“Next.”

At Verdi’s word, a small girl entered the booth.

The seventh suspect was a cadet with straight black hair, wearing a white beret.

She was short and looked younger than her peers.

She appeared pale, frightened by the environment.

“Your name?”

“……Macgrim.”

Coincidence, perhaps.

It was the same name as the singer scheduled to perform at Yggdrasil.

But she looked nothing like the one on the poster.

Just as Verdi was about to begin questioning, Macgrim spoke first.

“I’m not actually a student at this school. And……”

She hesitated a little before speaking.

“……The culprit.”

Macgrim swallowed hard and spoke again.

“I think I saw the culprit.”

I was sitting at a table, watching the surroundings.

Rather than gathering together, everyone sat apart at separate tables.

‘I can’t trust anyone.’

The same was true for Princess Arlhardt.

She had just narrowly escaped assassination, and her loyal knight lost an arm protecting her.

On top of that, one of those here was an accomplice.

Perhaps because of the shock, she could not easily bring herself to speak.

Ren too seemed to judge it best to stay a little apart from the Princess, as he stood guard.

“……”

“……”

No one knew who the culprit was, so everyone kept their guard up.

With eyes full of suspicion, all the suspects glanced sideways at each other from their seats.

It was exactly like a scene from a game.

This episode’s genre was group survival.

The goal was to search for traces and clues, identify the culprit, and escape from this damned barrier.

‘Although I know who the culprit is.’

To ensure the story followed its original course, the best move was to quietly observe.

In the original story, Villed was not trapped inside the barrier.

Yet here I was, seated among the suspects.

It was clearly a deviation from the main story.

‘……So far, nothing unusual has happened.’

Perhaps because I stayed quiet and didn’t provoke anyone, it helped.

I blended in among the suspects without arousing suspicion.

……However.

“Villed, I’m hungry.”

Growl.

The sound came from Lapin, sitting next to me.

I looked down at her with a weary expression.

‘She wasn’t supposed to be here either.’

Now there were two extra, uninvited guests.

Even my presence alone was enough to risk causing abnormalities, but with Lapin added in, who knew what might happen.

The possibility was troubling.

On top of that, I now had to take care of Lapin for the sake of her survival.

‘How did it come to this.’

For now, I had to keep silent according to the original story.

To stop Lapin from whining about being hungry, I brought out the Heart of Ilawne.

Several small red fruits had sprouted.

They weren’t enough to fill an empty stomach, but at least they could stave off hunger for a bit.

Just as I was about to pick one from the wand, my hand paused.

‘……Is it okay to feed this?’

The question struck me too late.

I remembered the description that the fruits had effects when fed to animals.

But I had no memory of it ever being stated they were edible for humans.

‘No, she’s not human—she’s a chimera, so maybe it’s fine?’

I hesitated for a moment, but it was already too late.

“Oh……”

Lapin’s eyes sparkled.

I had already raised her expectations, so there was no choice.

Just as I touched the stem of the fruit—

“Next.”

Verdi’s voice rang out.

The final suspect.

In other words, he was calling for me.

I stood up from my seat.

Lapin looked up at me, and I shrugged as if to say it couldn’t be helped.

“I’ll give it to you after I’m back. It won’t take long.”

“Okay.”

Lapin nodded, but she somehow looked like a dejected puppy.

For now, I left her behind and entered the booth.

There, Verdi was waiting, watching me.

“Please, have a seat.”

Even in this situation, he did not forget his manners toward nobility.

‘He’s quite young, but even so, he’s the commander of a knight order.’

Despite being only in his early twenties, he held both power and authority.

Even if I was the second son of one of the Four Great Families, it would be improper to speak informally to him.

It was only right that I used respectful speech with him.

As he said, I took a seat.

In the original story, he would question the suspects about their name, grade, alibi, and other details.

“A report has come in that someone witnessed the culprit.”

But Verdi did not ask me any questions.

Instead, he carried on with a one-sided conversation.

“They said the face was hidden, so they couldn’t confirm it. But they did notice several features.”

Suspicion filled his face.

He looked as if he was already certain I was the culprit.

“The culprit was very tall, and they were wielding a flaming sword.”

“……”

I showed no reaction.

……So.

That’s how it was.

I understood roughly how the story had unfolded.

“And among everyone here, there’s exactly one person who matches that description, isn’t there?”

Right now, I was being framed as the culprit.

“Sir Villed, what do you think of this?”

I did not open my mouth.

I simply sat in the chair, meeting Verdi’s eyes.

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